Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $400.00. The stock had previously closed at $321.22, but opened at $346.30. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $342.51, with a volume of 52,453,523 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Tesla to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $225.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 76,797 shares of company stock valued at $19,211,821. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 168.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 94.16, a PEG ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 2.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $243.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.03.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.